IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation was held on May 9-13th, 2011 in Shanghai, China. IEEE ICRA is the most influential annual conference in robotics. The ICRA Special Forum proposed by ROBOTAD was attended by over 700 participants there at the International Auditorium of the Shanghai International Convention Center.

We would like to express our sincere thanks to Professor Zexiang Li, General Chair, Professor T.J. Tarn, Executive General Co-Chair, and Professor Yuan Fang Zheng, Program Chair, who kindly accepted our proposal at the last moment of conference preparation and provided technical supports and mental encouragements.